A panel of experts walk into a dating app...
Five experts. Five disciplines. One uncomfortable truth.
Dating apps created an evolutionarily novel environment. Humans evolved evaluating 50-100 partners in a lifetime. Now you see 50 in 10 minutes.
Women's evolved selectivity gets amplified—they swipe right on only 14%. Men mass-swipe on 46%. Both strategies become dysfunctional at scale.12
"That's not biology. That's contrast effect from too many options too fast.
These apps are literally hijacking the dopamine system. Dopamine surges more during anticipation of a match than when you actually get one.
Variable reinforcement—the same mechanism as slot machines. Each swipe is a mini-gamble. The brain can't tell the difference.3
"You're stuck in dopaminergic seeking mode. You never reach attachment mode.
I'm seeing an epidemic of dating app burnout in my practice. 79% of Gen Z reports it. The psychological damage is real.
Commodification of self. Thousands of micro-rejections eroding self-worth. And the paradox of choice—more options, less satisfaction.45
"People choosing from 24 profiles are LESS satisfied than those choosing from 6.
Dating apps are triggering and maintaining anxiety and depression at clinical levels.
Social comparison on steroids. Intermittent reinforcement creating compulsive checking. Rejection loops that reinforce depression.6
"These apps are making people mentally unwell.
The market is broken by design. A textbook case of misaligned incentives.
Apps profit from engagement, not successful matching. If everyone found partners quickly, revenue collapses.78
""Designed to be addictive" rather than help find love — per the class-action lawsuit.
They're broken by design. The incentive structure rewards keeping you single.
That's why we built Delete differently.
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